Last week, it was 15. Now only seven votes separate two candidates for the Ventura school board.

The candidates are businesswoman Jackie Moran and financial adviser Don Wood. As the Ventura County Elections Office has released updated results over the past two weeks, first one candidate, then the other has been ahead.

That's been unsettling, Moran said.

"I definitely have butterflies when I hit the update button," she said. "It's a little tense and a little anxious. But it's not over yet."

The Ventura Unified School District board had seven candidates running for two open seats in this election.

The top vote-getter is Sabrena Rodriguez, a nonprofit director who had 19,152 votes, or 26 percent, in the latest results released Tuesday afternoon.

Moran had 13,025 votes, 18 percent. Wood had 13,018, also 18 percent. In the last count, they were 15 votes apart, with Wood behind. But Wood has also been ahead — by 32 votes on Nov. 11.

"It's the uncertainty, the not knowing," Wood said. "We get these updates, but we don't know how far along they are."

Among the other candidates, Steve Offerman placed a close fourth, with 12,243 votes, 17 percent.

The elections office is required by law to certify results by Dec. 6. Officials estimate they still have 27,642 votes to count.

If the race remains close then, and Wood is still behind, he's not sure whether he'll ask for a recount.

"It depends on how close it is," he said Tuesday. "I also don't have a sense of what the error rate would be."

Don Wood(Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

If a candidate decides to ask for a recount, he or she must do so within five days of the election's certification. The candidate picks up the cost unless the results are overturned. The elections office did not have an estimate of that cost Tuesday afternoon.

If there's not a clear winner by the time the board holds its organization meeting on Dec. 13, one of the current members who did not seek re-election will remain, said Superintendent Michael Babb. The district will make the choice between incumbents Barbara Fitzgerald and Debbie Golden, who did not run, Babb said.

In another close race, Monica Madrigal Lopez continued to lead Veronica Diaz in the Oxnard School District's Area 4. Lopez had 2,482 votes, or 51 percent. Veronica Diaz had 2,369, 48 percent.

In Area 1, incumbent Denis O'Leary held his lead over challenger Ruby Durias. O'Leary had 4,439 votes, 51 percent. Durias had 4,231, 48 percent.